


The Team-Up

by Onmyliteraturebullshitagain



Series: And They Were Neighbors (oh my god they were neighbors) [15]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: A lot of peak Midwest Zukka behavior, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bickering, Birthday, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Bisexual Zuko (Avatar), Builds heavily upon where The EMT left off, Drunk Shenanigans, Drunken Flirting, Established Relationship, Flirting, Fluff and Humor, Just for the spice, M/M, Midwest Bi Disaster Zukka, Moving In Together, Primarily Sokka POV, Probably not M rated but there's language and flirting and some implications, References to childhood trauma, Sokka (Avatar) Has ADHD, Some Zuko POV mixed in, Surprises, Talking About Marriage, The one where nobody proposes, Unlikely Friendships, so don't get too excited
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:41:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29980941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onmyliteraturebullshitagain/pseuds/Onmyliteraturebullshitagain
Summary: With Zuko's birthday incoming, Sokka strikes up an unlikely alliance with Azula to plan him a surprise party. But he and Zuko are also mid moving in together, Katara and Aang show up unexpectedly, and nothing ever quite seems to go the way Sokka plans.Midwest Bi Disaster Zukka - established relationship but does make reference to many past characters/dynamics and is definitely building upon previously established plot points. So maybe a stand-alone but not as clearly as others.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Azula & Sokka (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: And They Were Neighbors (oh my god they were neighbors) [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1968508
Comments: 136
Kudos: 209





	1. Chapter 1

This may have been a bad plan, but admittedly, bad plans that sort of worked out in the end were basically Sokka's specialty. So he parked his car and headed up toward the café, breathing in the air of early April and trying not to put his stupid broken-leg boot into a puddle. God, he was ready for it to be off and not walk with a cane like he was eighty years old. Yes, it was a step up from the cast and the crutches, but _still_. If he had all four working limbs, he probably wouldn't have needed extra help to begin with and he wouldn't be heading to meet, alone, with his boyfriend's scary sister. 

Why did he do these things to himself?

He and Azula couldn't exactly be described as _friends,_ but they were cordial and tolerant of each other when they crossed paths, which wasn't frequently. He'd even had to snoop her number off Zuko's phone and then deal with her _very_ aggressive texts about contacting her from an unknown number and how she'd hunt him down and skin him alive for violating her privacy like this. She chilled out some when she finally accepted that it was Sokka texting, not some stranger, but she hadn't withdrawn the "skinning alive" comment. So they were off to a great start obviously.

But who else was he supposed to turn to when Zuko said his birthday was next weekend but that he'd never done much for his birthday because they weren't happy memories from his childhood? He hadn't elaborated and Sokka hadn't pushed, but he had rolled over on top of him in bed and smothered him with hugs. And they were living together now, so Zuko had to deal with it, which he did with minimal swearing and shoving. 

But Sokka wanted to do _something_ because it was a birthday and was supposed to be fun, and somehow his life's mission had accidentally turned into "make sure Zuko has happy life experiences." But if there were weird things from childhood birthdays that would just make him upset or uncomfortable, then Sokka needed to know those, and who else would possibly know what those things might be?

Azula. Terrifying and unreadable Azula would know. God damn it…

He shoved the door open with his shoulder and stepped inside, already scanning for her within. She was at a table off to the side, as prim and stiff as always, and literally just gave him a quick chin lift in greeting before looking away. Sokka rolled his eyes and walked to the table and slid into the seat, all while Azula pretended to ignore him.

God, and he thought Zuko was a drama queen.

"Well, ‘hey’ to you too," he said pleasantly, "and I've been great. Thanks so much for asking. Oh and you've been doing well too? So good to hear--"

"Are you done?" Azula said shortly, tapping her still long and sharp nails against the table. 

"I can be if you're actually gonna acknowledge me," Sokka said with a smile. "Otherwise, I'm perfectly content to carry both sides of this conversation."

Azula eyed him again, that strange calculating look she did, and Sokka raised an eyebrow. 

"What happened to your leg?" she asked, which was a weird way to begin the conversation, but sure.

"Bear attack," Sokka replied with another smile, and Azula frowned at him. He shrugged. "Got in a fight with some homophobes outside a gay bar and got my ass kicked. You know. That old story."

Azula's eyes narrowed. "Were they brought to justice?" she asked, voice taking on an edge that reminded Sokka a bit of that Scary Murder Zuko after the incident. It was always a crapshoot which moments Azula would actually remind him of Zuko.

"Yeah, I think so," he replied with a shrug, "but also they're straight, white men and I'm a brown bisexual, so who knows if it’ll stick?"

Azula's frown deepened. "They had better pay for what they did."

"Aww," Sokka replied, leaning forward on his elbows, "you caring about me over there?"

Azula scoffed and inspected her nails. "I care about law breakers being punished," she said shortly.

Sokka almost made a comment about her asshole dad being a lawbreaker who was finally in prison (mostly just because Sokka hated Ozai with a constant burning anger and wanted to use every moment possible to make that fact clear), but he held back. No reason to stir up any more tension between them before they’d even gotten their drinks. 

"Yeah well, at least my face and bruised ribs are back to normal," Sokka said with a gesture to it, "and the leg's almost there. A lot of this is thanks to your brother."

Azula's eyebrows drew together, but she didn't ask for clarification. At this point, a waitress came around and gave them menus and glasses of water to get them started. As soon as she was gone, though, Azula's eyes were back on Sokka.

"I'm assuming you didn't set this up just for us to have a pleasant little chat," she said.

"This is pleasant for you?" Sokka asked, grinning wryly, and Azula actually looked affronted.

"I'm being perfectly civil," she said, sounding almost offended, "and I even asked a personal question about you and showed concern for your wellbeing."

Sokka put up his hands in surrender, actually feeling a little bad. Right, no teasing Azula that way. She still didn't know him that well and obviously didn't trust him, and especially without the buffer of Zuko and/or Iroh, this was unfamiliar territory.

"You're right," he said. "I apologize. I promise I was just joking, not actually trying to be rude."

Still looking like she was waiting for there to be some sort of trick or meanness coming from him (god, Sokka really wanted to punch Ozai in the throat on behalf of both his kids), Azula sipped her water and watched him.

"So how have you been?" Sokka asked politely.

"Fine," she said tartly and volunteered nothing else. 

They took a moment in silence then to look at their menus, and Sokka tried to figure out how to correctly interact with _just_ Azula. He'd gotten by pretty well in the past with Zuko to help navigate, because Zuko knew all the saying-not-saying games they'd been trained to play and actually understood how to read Azula's controlled and often inscrutable face. Sokka, though, was scrambling a bit like being dumped in Mexico and trying to remember his one year of high school Spanish.

"So why did you want to meet with me without Zuko?" Azula asked abruptly, closing her menu and setting it aside.

"Oh right," Sokka said, following her lead with the menus. "So it's his birthday soon, and I wanna do something for him."

"Ok…" Azula replied, tapping her nails on the table again. "Then do something. What does this have to do with me?"

"Well," Sokka said, unsure how to put this delicately as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Zuko sort of mentioned that his childhood birthdays weren't his, uh, happiest memories."

"Ah," Azula said, nodding to herself, "and you want to know why without having to ask him."

"Yeah..." Sokka replied, "if that's ok."

The waitress was back then, halting whatever Azula's response might have been, and they both ordered quickly before returning to the conversation.

"You do know," Azula said without preamble, "that our father never liked Zuko, right?"

Sokka stared at her a moment, trying to process. 

"Just 'didn't like him'?" he repeated, horror at the suggestion unintentionally creeping into his voice. "Just point blank. For _no reason_?"

"He had very high standards that Zuko didn't reach," Azula said, like this was a perfectly normal reason for a dad to abuse his kid. 

Sokka swallowed back his anger and nodded for her to go on. Still, something in his face must have given him away.

"I know it wasn't _right_ ," Azula said, almost sounding irritated, "but you asked."

"Yep, I did," Sokka replied, still hating it, "so…?"

"Well, those high standards included appearance and decorum," Azula said, stroking a strand of her hair, "so our birthdays were simply additional opportunities to host parties showing off how good his children were to business partners and social connections and whoever else."

"Fun," Sokka said dryly, and Azula actually smiled.

"Exactly. No fun at all," she said. "But useful to him, and to us, since they did provide plenty of chances for networking."

"Which is obviously what every little kid is thinking about on their birthday--yes, hello Jenkins, how are my stock investments looking for this year?" Sokka mocked in a cheesy sort of falsetto, and Azula, surprisingly, actually gave a small laugh.

"I guess it is kind of ridiculous when you put it that way," she admitted, although the laughter had quickly dropped from her expression.

"Was there even normal kids stuff?" Sokka asked, still feeling equal parts confused and personally offended by this whole situation. "Like balloons and piñatas and whatever?"

Azula scoffed at him. "We were lucky if there were even other kids there."

Sokka shook his head, still trying to conceptualize this 'evil dad, rich kid' existence.

"Ok, but what about your mom? She just went along with this too?" he asked.

Azula's expression immediately went more closed off again, sharp and dark and steely. 

"Our mom…" she said slowly, "sometimes did something afterwards, or another day. While she was there."

Right, shit, Sokka was an asshole.

"Sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

Azula gave a dismissive flip of her hand, face like stone again. 

"I never got along much with Mom anyway," she said flippantly. "She was always soft and weak like Zuzu, and I didn't need her."

Sokka blinked at her once but chose not to comment. Maybe he'd ask Zuko another time, if it seemed right and wouldn't cause too much pain, but not Azula. Not now, when every interaction with her seemed on the verge of combusting into a full Chernobyl-style meltdown.

"It doesn't matter," Azula said sharply, "and that wasn't what you were concerned about anyway. You were asking about Zuko's aversion to birthdays."

She said it with a kind of finality and intensity in her gaze that Sokka wasn't about to question. 

"Right," he replied instead. "Anything else I should know?"

"Well, really," Azula said, "I'm sure he's just remembering how much he hated those formal parties. _I_ at least was good at acting right and making Dad look good, which meant some reward for me after the fact. Zuko though…"

Sokka chewed his lip. "Didn't meet those high standards you were mentioning?"

Azula shook her head. "You claim to know Zuko so well. Take a guess why."

Sokka stroked his thumb over the condensation on his glass, feeling a little sick. Because Zuko was opinionated and emotional and sometimes snappish and loud. Because Zuko chafed visibly under being controlled and couldn't keep the emotions off his face if you paid him. Because Zuko wasn't a damn puppet and was messy and kind and queer.

Sokka didn't say any of these things, of course, but he nodded to Azula, who actually looked a bit sad for a moment. 

"It was… wrong," she said slowly, like she was learning to say these things out loud, "that Dad set Zuko up to fail and me to succeed. But it's what happened anyway."

Sokka took a deep breath and let it out. "Thanks, Azula," he said. "For telling me, I mean. I'm sure it's not… easy."

She looked down her nose at him and didn't reply for a moment. 

"Really, as long as there are no stuffy business men and you don't make him stand still and wear an uncomfortable suit and then berate him afterwards," she finished with a wave of her hand, "I'm sure whatever you do for his birthday will be fine."

Then their food was there and they could just concentrate on eating and not talking, but something was fitting together in Sokka's head. Every reference to Zuko's childhood still made him want to strangle Ozai and bundle Zuko up in a blanket and never let anyone near him again. But he was starting to feel a little of that about Azula too, which… ugh.

Was one high-strung, dramatic, disaster adult not enough for him?

Apparently not. He cast a few furtive glances at Azula, considering, and ate his food with some level of politeness.

"So what did you do for your last birthday?" he ventured, watching her.

She shot him a look, and he just raised his eyebrows, trying somehow to convey that he was asking with interest, not because he was some sort of counter intelligence trying to torture information out of her.

"Dr. Ling brought a cupcake to our session," she answered finally. "It was nice."

Yep, Sokka was gonna need a whole new kicked-puppy-face for Azula now too. God, this family made him sad.

"You should help me plan something for Zuko," he said before he actually thought it through to any sensible degree. "We could plan a surprise party, invite his friends, do normal, laid back, _actually_ fun things to celebrate."

Azula was staring at him, looking baffled.

"You want _me_ to help with this?" she asked, incredulous, and Sokka just smiled.

"Why not? It'll be fun!" he said. "Come on, we both love your brother and you could obviously use some more Sokka time in your life."

Azula's nose wrinkled.

"Zuko lives with me now, Azula," Sokka reminded, grinning. "Clearly you're gonna have to keep seeing me for a while. Might as well make the best of it, and--" he added as she looked ready to protest, "you're logical and organized and I'm chaotic and awesome, so together I bet we could put together something pretty amazing."

He was desperately hoping the face he was making was winning, not pitying, because while, yeah, this was partially motivated by Azula's sad story, it also just made sense. They were both gonna keep being a part of Zuko's life, clearly, so they may as well become friends themselves.

Ok, _friends_ seemed like a stretch, but at least they should get along and understand each other a little more. Azula was Zuko's sister, so she'd be there forever, and Sokka at this point had no intention of leaving. So to some degree, they were stuck together too.

Azula seemed to be processing the same thing, although she was very still and controlled about it. Really, the only sign was the slight thinning of her lips.

"Alright," she agreed finally, "but if you get too annoying, I'm leaving."

Apparently with her it was either all niceties or no holds barred honesty. Good bit of information for Sokka to lock away. He'd puzzled out her brother with enough time and effort. How much harder could the sister be?

"Deal," Sokka replied. "Sounds great."

The waitress was back then and looked between them, smiling to herself.

"Everything good here?" she asked, and Sokka nodded to her while Azula did nothing.

"If you don't mind my saying," the waitress added, just a little cloying, "you two make a very cute couple."

Sokka couldn't hold in his startled laugh at that, and Azula instantly sneered like someone had spit in her tea.

"I'm dating her brother," Sokka clarified at the waitress' confused expression, which just went red with embarrassment at his response.

"Moreover," Azula said sharply, "I would _never_ date someone like him."

Sokka made a face at her. "Racist."

Azula rolled her eyes. "This has nothing to do with your race and _everything_ to do with your _personality_."

"You keep telling yourself that," Sokka said with a wide smile and a lean forward on his elbow. "You're gonna learn to _love_ me."

Azula glared at him. "You're lucky if I continue to _tolerate_ you. Don't push it."

"Um, so…" the waitress ventured, still looking embarrassed and lost, "how do you want the check?"

"Separate," Azula said immediately as Sokka said, "Two checks please."

The waitress looked between them, nodded quickly, and hurried away.

"So," Azula said as she dabbed at her lips with her napkin, "do you have an actual _plan_ for this party, or will that be left to me?"

"I've got ideas," Sokka said, "but, I mean, I'm open to suggestions too."

The smile that rose on Azula's face made his skin prickle just a little because he genuinely couldn't tell what was behind it. 

Oh god, what had he gotten himself into here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was a lot of fun to write just because I got to throw together lots of our previous characters and explore some new character dynamics. Also Sokka and Azula are such a ridiculous team-up (hence the title) and I love writing drunk/hungover shenanigans obviously and I'm still president of the Zuko Deserves Nice Things Squad. So basically this story is goofy and self-indulgent and sappy and ridiculous all at once, and hopefully you enjoy the continuation of Midwest Zukka. :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ongoing saga of Sokka and Zuko bickering and flirting, now with the added benefit of living together, sprinkled with just a little bit of miscommunication. You know, because it's Zukka.

"Ok, at some point," Zuko announced, "we have to put together the new bedframe and stop sleeping on a mattress on the floor."

Sokka was going full starfish in the middle of the new mattress as Zuko said this, and genuinely couldn't have cared less if it stayed on the floor forever. It was massive and soft and covered in a thick comforter and always smelled a little like Zuko, which made it perfect. So his very mature response to Zuko’s concerns was to grab his pillow and put it directly over his face to block out all this negativity.

Zuko kicked at the mattress. "I'm serious, Sokka," he said. "Next full day we both have off, we're putting this bitch together." He moved his kicks to one of the three boxes pushed up against the wall. "This place is crowded enough with you and me and three pets without adding a bunch of damn boxes."

Sokka muttered his response into the pillow, since that was where he planned to continue hiding, but it wasn't like Zuko was _wrong_ . He'd been steadily moving his things upstairs over the last few weeks, and they'd both been figuring out which pieces of furniture they wanted to keep and which they could sell on Facebook Marketplace or dump at a Goodwill. They'd already sold Sokka's couch since Zuko's was clearly nicer (which all three pets supported by instantly taking it over) and had managed to get rid of both old beds to make way for a larger and better one. As this was happening, Sokka had had a brief moment of near panic as he realized the finality of it all. If something happened with Zuko, he'd be furniture-free and basically homeless, which was a terrifying thought. What if something _did_ happen? What if this was too permanent, too final? What would Sokka do then?

Zuko had somehow seen it even if Sokka hadn't said anything. 

"Is it too much?" he'd asked, pressing in next to Sokka on the newly moved couch. "We could get a storage unit or something if you'd rather not sell everything--sort of a safety-net just in case--"

"No," Sokka had said immediately, hearing that, and he'd looked over and met Zuko's eyes. "No, I don't need a safety net for us." He shook his head. "I'm just stressing myself out and my brain's getting fast."

"Normal fast, need caffeine fast, or need Adderall fast?" Zuko asked, just confirming what Sokka already knew--that Zuko was the right choice, he was meant to be in his life, things were better when he was around.

"Need Zuko fast," he replied and snuggled up into his lap, which Zuko accepted with a small huff and a tight squeeze of his arms.

So it was good, the new stuff and the change, especially the mattress, but he was also sick to death of trying to help move things or put stuff together with his damn broken leg. _So why not_ , he told Zuko via the pillow on his face, _just learn to live with the boxes and enjoy being a lazy piece of shit for a while?_

Zuko, of course, didn't allow this muffled non-response and pulled the pillow off his face just to then hit him with it. Sokka sputtered and sat up.

"Wow, shots fired," he announced. "Now it's war."

And he grabbed Zuko around the knees and hauled him into the bed as he scrambled and swore and tried to shove Sokka off him. Sokka was persistent and in no way above low blows like tickling and licking until he got Zuko pinned down to the mattress underneath him. Zuko just glared up at him in response.

"I could clock you right in the balls right now," he said, shifting where his leg was positioned to demonstrate. 

"Yeah, but you wouldn't do that," Sokka argued, refusing to be intimidated by a fluffy-haired man in a cut-off t-shirt for a band Sokka had never heard of and oversized basketball shorts. He could glare and threaten all he wanted, but Zuko still looked like a scruffy bachelor who'd just rolled out of bed. Which was only partially true.

"You sure?" Zuko teased, raising his eyebrow. "I'd definitely win then."

"And you'd have re-crippled your already still-crippled boyfriend," Sokka argued, tapping his boot against Zuko's leg. "And I'm pretty sure that's some sort of war crime."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "You're such a dumbass," he muttered. "Why do I put up with you?"

Sokka just laughed and leaned down to kiss him, which Zuko didn't resist at all, for all his protesting.

"Because you'd be lost without me, darling," Sokka murmured with a smile.

"Lies," Zuko replied, even while reaching up a hand to tangle it in Sokka's hair.

"Oh yeah?" Sokka replied. "You think you could live without me having coffee already set up for you when you get off at crazy hours?"

"Ok, that just means I can't live without the Keurig," Zuko argued, still petting Sokka's head. 

"Uh huh," Sokka replied. "Well, how about the fact that I'm the one who actually keeps track of shit on the calendar and schedules all the vet appointments for our boys?"

"I could do that if I had to!" Zuko protested.

"Dragon's very out of date rabies tag says otherwise," Sokka teased, poking the tip of his nose. "You _need_ my ADHD and obsessive writing stuff down so it doesn't get forgotten."

Zuko was smiling now as he looked up at him. "I'd manage," he argued half-heartedly and obviously just to keep Sokka on top of him and talking, the dork. 

"Oh sure," Sokka replied with the same energy, because he liked this game. "You'd _manage_ without me to cuddle up against every night? Without me around to rub your neck when you get all headache-y from work? Or to--"

Zuko reached up and massaged one of Sokka's ears, which was the _true_ low blow, because he knew it made Sokka go all droopy and relaxed. Which in this case meant collapsing on top of him in a heap and letting out a long sigh.

"That's cheating," he muttered. "Don't stop."

Zuko chuckled against him and didn't, apparently content to have Sokka's weight plopped on top of him for the time being. 

"We're still putting the damn bed frame together," he said, and Sokka just sighed again.

" _Fine_ ," he let out as another labored exhale. "We did buy the stupid thing after all."

Actually, that wouldn't be a bad thing to line up with Zuko's birthday as another kind of present. He'd talked to Azula a little about the party, and they'd at least set a date and she'd said she'd see if any of her and Zuko's old friends could make it to town in time. It was on Sokka to wrangle any other friends or coworkers and get their numbers out of Zuko's phone at some point, but the specifics of the party itself were at least starting to come together. 

But there was plenty of time for that and a Hot Roommate Boyfriend beneath him, so those worries could wait for later.

-

As much fun as it was to just have Sokka flopped on top of him and teasing him with kisses, Zuko knew he really did need to detangle and shower and get ready for work. With enough shoving and arguing, Sokka did let him go, although he pouted the whole time. 

Zuko grabbed some clothes out of the closet and headed for the bathroom, already mentally preparing for a long shift with Maria, who wasn't his favorite coworker. She tended to be shrill and impatient and mildly homophobic, which wasn't great. She did at least know what she was doing, but still. He was gonna need to be in a happier mindset if he was gonna be able to handle her without snapping or yelling. Also maybe get an extra shot of espresso in his drink. And maybe have Sokka prepared for him to call and rant about her while hidden in a bathroom so he didn’t actually scream directly at her and get himself written up. 

So, lots to do.

He flipped on the shower and patted his pocket for his phone, already thinking his "Eclectic Upbeat" playlist might be necessary, only to find his phone missing. He sighed and headed back to the bedroom.

He paused in the doorway, surprised at the intense concentration in Sokka's face as he looked at… Zuko's phone.

"What'cha doing there?" Zuko asked, smirking a little, and Sokka jumped and instantly flung the stolen phone toward the end of the bed, his own clutched in his other hand.

The phone bounced once, scared a cat who'd been lurking by the end of the mattress into springing across the room, and landed upside down on the carpet. All of this Zuko observed with vague amusement because only Sokka could be so wildly obvious in his guilt. Zuko raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uh…" Sokka stammered, "nothing! Nope! Nothing happening here!"

"Sure…" Zuko said, crouching down to retrieve his phone, unsure how to interpret any of this, especially Sokka's overly extreme reaction.

"Just, you know, gotta check that all your other lovers are keeping to the schedule and still up for our weekly gossip-about-Zuko brunches," Sokka continued, smiling broadly, and Zuko just shot him another look. 

"Uh huh," he said, shaking his head. "You know me and my retainer of lovers from all the hot, young, single people I interact with every day." He grinned and took another step toward the mattress. "I mean, Mrs. Tuo yesterday _was_ only eighty-eight and was really settling into the 'sexy' aspects of being an arthritic widow."

Sokka chuckled, looking a little more relaxed. "Yep, we're letting Mrs. Tuo have you Wednesdays and every third Sunday."

"Sounds great," Zuko said. "As long as I've got you to make the schedule for me." He bent and kissed his forehead, lingering a moment and hoping what he said next didn't actually need to be said. "You know I don't care if you look at my phone, right?"

"Really?" Sokka asked, looking surprised, and Zuko just shrugged. What the hell would he be hiding? He hadn't lied about the complete lack of hot single people he interacted with, and he also certainly hoped Sokka knew he'd never in his life been the type of person to sneak around while dating someone.

And when that someone was Sokka? Laughable. Why the fuck would he ever look for anyone else?

"Don't know why you would, though," Zuko replied, grinning again. "Your phone's the one with the good shit on it."

"Wait, what?" Sokka said, looking down at it still in his hand. 

"Well, yeah," Zuko replied, "I've occasionally stolen it to watch your For You page when you're walking Boomerang and I know I'm gonna do that super embarrassing laugh. That way I can make that noise when you're not around to mock me." 

He felt his forehead wrinkle, suddenly concerned. Was this some cue he'd missed, something they were supposed to talk about? Were phones private or off-limits? 

"Shit, sorry, should I not have?" he asked. "We never really talked about the phones thing and I assumed--"

"No it's totally fine!" Sokka said immediately, smiling, which had least relieved some worry. "You can watch my TikTok whenever you want--although we could, you know, just make you _your own_ , grandpa. Then you could watch it whenever."

Zuko rolled his eyes and waved a hand.

"Yours is all fun and set up already, and I'd have to start over, so I'd rather keep stealing yours." He heard the slight hesitancy in his voice. "Just if you don't mind, because really, Sokka--"

"I _obviously_ don't mind, and it's not like you could navigate the chaos of my phone for nefarious purposes anyway," Sokka replied, grinning.

"Yeah, why do you always have like 26 tabs and twelve apps open at once?" Zuko asked eyes narrowing, because yes, Sokka's phone _was_ total insanity, from his nonsensically ordered apps and piles of left open tabs to his unending lists of Notes and colorful background pictures. "Doesn't that kill your battery?"

"It absolutely does," Sokka replied, unconcerned, "but if I close things, I forget they exist."

"Your brain, dude," Zuko said because that did actually make a certain degree of sense. But still the concern squirmed there in his middle, and he met Sokka's eyes again. "But seriously, Sokka, I'm not hiding anything or anyone on my phone," he smiled a little and moved forward to cup Sokka's cheek, "but you can check it if that makes you feel better. I want you to feel happy and secure, sweetheart, so whatever you need."

Sokka's eyes widened. "Oh! What? Yeah, no, I knew that!" he said immediately. "I swear that's not--I wasn't worried about--I just--" But he sort of just stammered off into nothing, still looking embarrassed.

Zuko just smiled and kissed him between the eyebrows.

"Love you, my adorable fricken' weirdo," he muttered, drawing back. 

"Love you too," Sokka replied, still looking a little flustered, but at least he grinned up at him like he normally would.

So hopefully they were ok. Zuko _wanted_ them to be ok, what with the big change of the move and the sort of commitment that went into that. He'd really hoped it wouldn't change anything for the worse, but what if it had? Zuko shook his head and lit up his phone screen, looking at the lock screen picture with a smile. It was one he'd taken recently, all three pets sharing the grey couch together: Boomerang sprawled on his back, Dragon curled up near his head, and Lucky laying across the top and glaring down at the other two. It had been such a perfect scene to describe the new little home they were making, and it made him smile still. He flipped to his Spotify and pulled up his playlist, trying to keep his worries at bay. This was their home now and Sokka loved him and knew Zuko loved him back. He just had to believe that that was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, there won't be any actual drama or angst from the miscommunication here other than Zuko's occasional worry and confusion. This is still a story built of humor, fluff, and tenderness :)
> 
> I'm gonna keep intermixing this with "Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores," so updates will probably be ever four-five days, rather than two-three, but hopefully you won't find that too distressing! Thanks for your continued support of Midwest Zukka!


End file.
